Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising this issue. As he rightly said, there is huge potential in further expanding the Reserve Defence Force and the already incredible work done by its members. I remain committed to bolstering the numbers in the Reserve Defence Force. I am very much aware that the ability to increase its strength is fundamental to the regeneration of the force. The strength of the RDF is a key focus of the Defence Forces office of Reserve affairs. It was a welcome development to have that dedicated office established. It was a recommendation from the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces. A priority for this office was the development of the Reserve Defence Force regeneration and development plan. This was published only last July. The implementation of this plan sets out 27 actions specifically to revitalise our Reserve Defence Force.

One of the four operational objectives of this plan is maintaining a robust and dynamic induction process with the aim of achieving an effective strength of 80% by 2028. To that end, the Defence Forces have prioritised recruitment into the Reserve Defence Force. I am pleased to say we have seen very positive gains in this respect, albeit from a low base, with 268 members being inducted in 2024. That is an increase of in excess of 300% over 2023, when 65 new members were inducted.

A range of recruitment measures continue to support this objective, including the increase in upper recruitment and mandatory retirement ages for the Reserve Defence Forces to match comparable increases for the Permanent Defence Force.

A further measure is the implementation of a managed induction process whereby a recruitment liaison officer maintains contact with applicants throughout the induction process in order to facilitate an expeditious recruitment process and make sure we do not lose people who put their hands up and say they are interested. There is also an on-boarding process which enables candidates to undergo pre-attestation recruit training. In addition, the office of Reserve affairs has created a Reserve strategic engagement team comprising reservists with relevant marketing, advertising and media production skills. This has led to a number of initiatives to promote recruitment.

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